Some of you heard this story this past summer right after it occurred. I thought I would take a moment here to share it with everyone else.
While on vacation in the Lelanau Peninsula at the end of this summer, I took advantage of a day of nice weather to roll out my yoga mat on the deck and do my yoga practice looking out at Lake Michigan. It turns out I had company. A monarch butterfly started flitting around about halfway through my practice, and even landed on my mat for a few seconds at one point. When it was time to come down onto my back for a few supine positions I lost sight of it, but when I crossed my ankle over my thigh for supine pigeon pose I realized it had landed on my foot! It stayed there for about 10 minutes—and yes, it even did Savasana with me. I sat back up and we closed our practice with a silent ‘Namaste,’ and then it flew away. It was such a spiritual moment – a butterfly doing yoga with me. To borrow from the author Cheryl Richardson, who has shared her own encounter like this with a hummingbird, “What if this is all it’s about? These moments. The magic of a beautiful encounter. The enchantment of wonder.” As I reminisce about how happy the opportunity of such an intimate encounter with a monarch made me, I agree with Cheryl: experiences such as these should not be undervalued. They matter as much, if not more, than everything else in our life.
In our busy world it’s easy to forget about the simple joys that can occur when we live in the present moment. Today I encourage you to remember…
Fall 2021 Studio Update